I reckon we just took a big step towards Star Trek’s universal translator becoming a real thing. Today, Samsung unveiled its S24 Series and it was all about AI. But what can AI do for us on a phone?
Well, it can speak for us, in another language. The Samsung Galaxy S24 phones can do just that, in a live phone call with the native app, while sending text messages and when face-to-face.
Live Translate works in 13 different languages on device. So it’s fast and secure. Some of the supported languages only available by downloading a language pack.
Supported languages (Regions)
Chinese Simplified, English (India, United Kingdom, United States), French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish (Mexico, Spain, United States), Thai, Vietnamese.
In the demo video above you can hear all the person you are speaking with in French, plus the French translation of what you say. You can mute this and I’d suggest †hat you do. It will leave longer pauses of not sound but it will avoid talking over each other if you happen to speak after you hear the response in French. It’s easy to do if you have a good idea of what’s been said. All the translations appear on screen so you can easily check for accuracy.
Language and voice presets allow you to set languages and voices to use for calls with specific phone numbers or contacts.
Translation also works in texting as mentioned but one of the clever UI functions for in-person live conversations concerns the split screen. Samsung rotates one end of the displayed translation so both people are reading from the correct perspective. Simple I know, but great to see.
More to come on the S24 Series, so keep coming back!